With a Sigh Between Her Ears
by hheroes
Summary: A strange incident reveals that April possess a new power-the ability to read minds. Taking place about just before the Tiger Claw arc in season two, April's new power comes with pros and cons. But maybe, just maybe, she can use it to see who Karai really is-and who knows; she might like what she finds. For the TMNT 2014 Mini Bang.


April kind of likes meditating, but she also kind of hates it.

On one hand, being in tune with oneself is a gift. She treasures the precious moments where she can look into herself and _see _something; it makes her feel like she's staring into the universe and seeing eternity itself. It makes her feel like there are entire galaxies within her, waiting to be explored.

And on the other hand, it gets hot in the dojo and her hair sticks to the back of her neck and she feels sticky and gross and she can barely focus. Her stance wavers; she doesn't quite break, but she wriggles her nose to scratch it. She clears her throat, tries to settle herself again.

But by then, all hope is lost. Her inner-universes have slipped out of her sweaty fingers.

Huffing, April frowns hard. She can do this. All she has to do is focus on herself and nothing more-ignore the distractions, ignore the fact that her leg is falling asleep and her bra-strap is quietly slipping down her shoulder. It's fine, it's all fine. She just has to concentrate-

"_April_."

Her eyes fly open to find Master Splinter, far from pleased, staring hard at her.

"Um," she says, "hi?"

"You seem restless. Are you having trouble focusing?"

April knows he's only trying to help, but she shakes her head quickly anyway. "Nope, not at all! I'm laser-focused right now. I'm in such deep thought I could probably find the meaning of life or something."

Splinter raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really," she beams at him.

Something in his expression changes; ever so slightly, the sides of his mouth twitch upwards, and he nods almost solemnly.

"In that case, you must be tired," Splinter offers, in a voice so calm and steady it seems no different from his usual tone. "We should take a short break."

Relief washes over April like rain. "Yes, _please_. I don't know how you do it, Sensei-sitting like a pretzel for this long just makes my legs ache." She unfolds her legs and stretches them greedily, letting out a much-needed yawn. She flops onto her back, daring to let the hem of her shirt hike up and cool off her belly.

Above her, she can hear Splinter's amused chuckle. It's a warm sound, and paternal in a way she can't quite explain.

"I do not think much of my legs if I am deeply enough engaged," he explains. To her surprise, her follows suit in stretching out his legs. "But yes, sometimes it does too make my legs ache."

April laughs quietly, aware that Splinter's chuckle is sweeping through the dojo as well, and in that moment, she hears a voice. A voice within in her head that doesn't belong to her. A voice, and soon after, a barrage of broken images and shattered emotions.

_She is doing well - she is my own - she is not Miwa - Yoshi, she isn't-_

April tastes fire and smoke on her tongue and feels betrayal bubble beneath her skin.

_Miwa is lost- was __**taken**__\- April is not my own- April _**is** _my own - I will not lose her too -_

All at once, the chaos leaves her mind, and in the dizzying moments after April can hardly do more than stare at the ceiling. She bursts into movement suddenly, desperately rolling herself onto her side to dry-heave and curl within herself.

"April?" Master Splinter's voice, outside of her head this time, she thinks, still too dizzy to be sure. "April, are you alright?"

April gags and shudders until she finally falls still, nearly boneless. The shock of the situation settles into her so heavily she feels her bones creak under the weight of it. It takes all of her energy to sit up to assure Splinter in some way that she's fine.

"I'm fine," she says weakly. She shakes her head slowly. "I mean - that's never happened before, but I think I'll be fine."

"What happened?"

"I don't...I think…" She shakes her head again. "I have no clue."

His eyebrows knit together and concern spreads over his face. "Describe it."

"Sensei, I _can't_."

"You must try," he says sternly. "You must at least try."

April shudders out a sigh, relaxing as the bout of nausea passes. "It was like…" The words are hard. She doesn't think there's an easy way of saying she's ninety percent sure she just saw into his mind, so she shuts her eyes tight and just goes for it.

"I just...saw your mind."

One, two seconds pass in silence, after several moments Splinter finally speaks. "You what?"

"I don't know," April says again. "I just - it sounded like you. One second I was fine and the next it was like I was in your head."

Just thinking about it makes her queasy. The swirl of colors and thoughts and memories-intangible things that took up his both his conscious and subconscious, the absolute mess of activity going on. It tasted like panic on her tongue, but emotions don't have taste, which confuses her more than anything.

"I'm sorry," she adds hastily. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to see - I'm _sorry_."

She had seen fire and could damn near smell the smoke. She witnessed him lose his child-a replay of endless flames that consumed everything he ever loved. But she had also seen herself, in the way he saw her.

He thought of her as his own.

"Do not apologize," Splinter insists gently. "I am not angry with you. I only worry…"

His eyes shut briefly. Worried that she would catch another glimpse of something she shouldn't, April awaits another barrage of sensory stimulus, but her brain, thankfully, remains free of any thoughts but her own.

"We will discuss this another time. For now, rest. You do not look well."

* * *

After the first instance comes something akin to practice. They start with discussions-descriptions of what April saw, more and more detailed each time she retells it.

"I felt betrayal too. Anger. Pure _hatred_. I saw a scene of flames and not much else, but," and she gulps, "but I think it was - it was the night you lost your wife. The night you fought Saki."

"I feared as much." He doesn't try to fake a smile. "I am sorry you had to see that."

"I'm sorry you had to _live _it!" April blurts out before she can think better of it.

At this, Splinter hums and involuntarily grimaces. "Feeling sorry for me does nothing, but I appreciate the sentiment. Can you tell me what triggered the episode?"

April manages a helpless shrug. "Nothing," she insists, "nothing I can think of. Everything was incredibly average that day. I said something that made you laugh and next thing I knew I was getting sucked into your head."

Splinter says nothing as he mulls over her words and tries to draw something out of them. His thoughtful silence is almost infuriating; April wants to tell him outright that there's nothing she can do to link the incident to a specific action when he nods at last.

"I suppose nothing triggered it, then," he says, and sounds defeated. "I can't help but wonder if this may be an effect of your genetic background."

Instantly, a lump so large it feels like a fist forms in April's throat. It happens every anyone mentions the truth about who she is: the part-Kraang, part-human creation. Perhaps it makes her a mutant, or something special, but most of the time April just feels like an abomination.

Not that she cares to voice that to Splinter. He's mutation happened nearly fifteen years ago and is still very much a sore subject. She doesn't want to poke his old wounds while trying to mend her new ones.

"Maybe," she says stiffly. The air itself seems to change around them, growing more stuffy and less relaxed than it had been only seconds before. "If you don't mind, Sensei, I'd rather not talk about it."

"How do you come to terms with a subject you insist on avoiding?" he responds, as if it's only an idle question. But it makes April feel a small surge of anger, indignation; she wants to point her finger and tell him that he doesn't _understand_.

He doesn't have to deal with the alien part of his body struggling to maintain compatibility with the human part. He doesn't have to struggle with a plethora of strange things happening over and over, things like screwing up stoplights with a sneeze to accidentally making cell phones spew out smoke during lunch, or _reading minds_ out of the blue.

He has his own demons to face aside from meddling with hers. He doesn't, _can't_ understand what it's like.

But she says none of that. She only stares down in terse silence, until he at last sighs and declares their session over.

* * *

The mind-reading incidents happen sporadically after that, never showing any specific trigger. Splinter had advised her to keep it quiet from the boys for as long as possible. ("Because things that happen beyond their control frustrate and confuse them, and you do not need them pitted against you at a time like this.") But things happen, things slip, and one day, so does April.

They're playing video games and eating pizza - normal Saturday night activities, really. The noise they make is out of playful competition. Aside from the occasional accusations of cheating, the air is clean between them.

April is on a three-game losing-streak. Her character keeps getting dominating on screen, and she frowns moodily as the boys take turns beating her. It's not until Leo takes the plate that things fall apart.

He takes the first round with ease, April frantically trying to keep up. She sulks spectacularly and he grins brightly as they enter into round two. All she can think about is wishing she could beat the smirk off his face, and just like that, her mind reaches out to grab for Leo's thoughts before she can stop it.

It's not the ground-breaking event it was the first time; April is better at controlling it, somewhat, now. As Leo's mind is revealed to her, she doesn't react-just bites on her lip and tries to focus on the new information and applying it to the game. The mind numbing nausea that used to follow is a long forgotten side effect now. The most she feels is a small tingle at the back of her neck.

She sees all of his attacks before he does them. She crushes him in the second and third round without even trying.

Slackjawed, he gives up the controller to Raph. For all his bluster, Raph's actually good at the game-but he can't be better than someone who can see everything he does. She claims victory over him too, and afterwards he throws down his controller.

"I'm calling bullshit," he growls. "You're cheating."

"How do you cheat in a fighting game?"

"I dunno but _you're doing it_," Raph says angrily.

April only grins.

And then she's completely floored by the rush of anger that stems off of Raph, so acute that it makes more than just her neck tingle. The skin all over her arms feel peppered with pinpricks of electricity, and she just barely has time to brace herself before she gets entirely swept up into his mind.

_Cheating _\- _not fair - make her pay - gotta win. Gotta win. Make her lose. _

His mind releases her just about as gently as one would throw out the trash. She ends up shuddering, hunched over her knees and wishing she could get away from him and his overwhelming thoughts before something could go wrong.

When she opens her eyes again, the TV screen is entirely static, and Mikey is crying crocodile tears over the smoking game console. Raph's eyes slowly rake over the scene before stopping on her, and her mind thinks _MOVE_, but her body is too slow. He catches onto her arm before she can make a break for it.

Leo and Donnie both object automatically to how roughly he's holding her, but Raph only clutches on tighter. "What did you do, April?" he sounds-not angry, just intense. Very, _very_ intense. His free hand points to the TV, then the console. "What did you _do_?"

She stares at him, eyes threatening tears, and even though Leo and Donnie seemed so irate before, now they're looking at her too. Even Mikey is. They're staring at her and she knows she can't slide out of this unscathed.

"Don't get mad," she says first, and that only makes Raph glare harder.

"Get mad about what?" asks Donnie.

Trembling, April tries to reach for his hands, but Donnie moves away; not out of malice, but uncertainty that's almost palpable. "I-I read your minds and I busted the TV," she says all in a rush, staring at the space between them, "and I'm _sorry_, it was an accident, I didn't do it on purpose I-I just-"

Raph let's go and gives her a wild look. She pulls into herself and scoots away from them all, not meeting their eyes. "I'm sorry," she says again. "I meant to tell you earlier."

"Earlier?" Leo's gaze is not the soft, kind one he usually has. It's hard. It's sharp. It makes her feel awful. "What do you mean earlier?"

"Weeks ago, I'm sor-"

"You've been reading our minds for _weeks_?"

April holds out her hands and they all flinch away. "No! No, I mean, yes? _Sometimes_. By accident."

They look bewildered and angry, almost. It's hard to read exactly what their expressions mean, but it makes her feel more alone than ever.

She prepares for the worst. Maybe Leo banishing her forever, or Raph giving into the twitch of his fingers and attacking her, or Donnie calling her a monster or, or-

"April," Leo says, and his voice is kind. "_Breathe_."

Oh. Was she not doing that?

Sucking in air, April stares down at the floor and tries to blink away her tears. Her heart is pummeling wildly in her chest .

"Good," says Leo, and the next thing she feels are his hands on her shoulders. It makes her jerk her head up and he's looking at her dead on. She can't look away. "Tell us _everything_."

Behind Leo is Raph, whose expression has become one of irritated concern, and Mikey, looking as if he wants to leap out and hug her. Donnie mouths something like "stay calm" but most importantly, none of them look like they hate her.

April nods, bobbing her head up and down. She inhales deeply and says, "Where should I start?"

"From the beginning."

So she does.

* * *

April doesn't _need _to read Leo's mind to know that he's upset- she does anyway, to affirm her suspicions and after muddling through his thoughts, heavy like waves crashing against the shore, she stumbles across the one person who shouldn't be on his mind.

She pokes at a cluster of thoughts and gets inundated with images of bright red lips and pretty brown eyes. The edges of the girl's face are softer than they are in real life: how Leo sees her in his mind. Even still, it doesn't cover up her deadliness, but she's beautiful nonetheless.

"_Leo_." She smacks his arm, shaking him out of his thoughts. "Stop thinking about Karai!"

Leo's eyes widen in surprise, then narrow as he scrunches up his nose. "Stop reading my mind!" he counters, rubbing at the spot where she'd hit him.

"I couldn't help it. You're brooding so loudly I couldn't hear myself think."

"Haha, very funny." Leo frowns. "It's not my fault. We haven't seen her in a while and I'm...worried."

"I know," April says, crossing her arms. "You care about her a lot. And I... " Her feelings about Karai aren't quite the same as Leo's: she trusts that girl about as far a she can throw her. Sometimes, she wonders what would happen if Karai hadn't tried to kill her after they wound up sharing a meal at Murakami's.

_That _experience is one unlike any other. A pretty girl asked her to dinner, only to try to murder her not twenty minutes later. If that didn't hint at April's current love life, she didn't know what did.

She blinks a few times, faintly embarrassed about how quickly she'd gotten swept up in her thoughts, and coughs to hide it. "And I don't know her like you do, but you seriously shouldn't be so worried about her. She tried to _kill _you. More than once!"

"I know," Leo says, and sighs into his hands. "But I can't just..._stop_ caring about someone at the flip of a switch."

That's the thing about Leonardo; once his mind is made up, it's hard to change. He believes in Karai, for whatever reason, and April is unlikely to ever change that.

"That's true," she admits. "But that doesn't make thinking about her all the time a good idea." Her phone buzzes and she checks it, pulling a face. "I'd love to drill you about this some more but I'm already late. Irma and Casey are taking me to see that new _kaiju _movie."

Leo gives her a hopeful look. "With the giant robots?"

"Yup. It's going to be _awesome_." She can sense the disappoint in his eyes before he even tries to fake a smile. "I'd take you if I could, but...hey, instead of moping around all night, why don't you take the guys to Murakami's. You've all had a pretty rough few weeks, I'm sure getting some gyoza wouldn't hurt."

He nods, considering. "That's not a bad idea. Thanks, April."

April's mind has already drifted back to her memory from before. She mumbles a hurried _you're welcome_ and rushes out of the lair, thinking of Karai and what-ifs.

One second April is nearly on cloud nine because the _kaiju _robot movie was just as awesome as she'd hoped-and the next she's fighting the sudden, instinctive urge to run away as fast as possible.

Awareness sparks within her mind, like her own personal Spidey-sense. "Do you guys feel like we're being...watched?"

Casey shrugs, and Irma gives her that signature '_you're crazy'_ look. "You okay, April? You were never this paranoid until _Jones _came along."

Shrugging again, all Casey has to offer is, "I taught her pretty well."

"Taught her how to be a _delinquent_, sure."

"I bring out the best in people," Casey says with a toothy grin.

"_Guys_." Her tone of voice startles them into seriousness; Irma nervously pushes her glasses up her nose, checking over her shoulder. Casey mutters a curse under his breath after reaching for his hockey stick and grabbing at air.

The feeling intensifies, sending tendrils of ice racing down April's spine. "Irma, you need to go home. Like, _now_."

"What about him?" The shorter girls jabs a thumb in Casey's directions.

"He's probably just going to do something stupid anyway, so I figured there was no point in trying to stop him."

Casey doesn't deny it.

Irma narrows her eyes and looks at each of them a long time. "_Alright_," she says, and her tone stabs April through the heart. It's not like she wants to abandon her best friend, it's just that she'd rather not have Irma get mixed up in a Foot kidnapping or Kraang abduction.

She wants Irma as far away as possibly from the weird shit that goes on in the city. She'll do anything to keep her friend safe. Somehow, that doesn't make Irma's obvious anger hurt any less.

"Have fun," Irma scoffs. "Don't...oh, whatever, it doesn't matter. Call me when you get home, okay? Unless you've _forgotten _about me by then."

She turns on the heel of her boot and storms off.

Casey gives a low whistle, shoving his hands in his pockets. "...ouch."

"Shut up, Casey."

"What? I'm just sayin' that was kinda harsh-"

"Shut _up_, Casey!" April presses at her temples; she can feel the presence of something very powerful, something dangerous. It's coming from-

"There," April says, pointing west. "Something big and bad is over there, or some_one_."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Don't know. I just know it's giving off one hell of a vibe."

"On it," Casey says happily. Before April can spin around to stop him, he's already running in the direction where he'd parked his truck. "Don't worry about me, Red! I'll make it back in time to walk you home!" He gives her a lopsided grin, and just like that, he's gone.

A silhouetted figure drops from the rooftop of the theater as soon as he's out sight, and April doesn't quite believe that she can sense auras, but the rush of fear and adrenaline that goes through her veins is far too familiar.

It's always weird how thinking about someone almost makes it a foregone conclusion that they'll pop up at some point in the day. A trick that, unfortunately, doesn't work on missing mothers, but seems to work just _fine _on missing kunoichis.

"_Karai_?"

"Miss me, princess?" Karai asks as she steps into the light.

April hasn't seen Karai in weeks, and in that time the other girl has visibly changed. She looks...tired. Worn out, really. Her hair is messier than usual, her makeup looks like it was done in a rush.

But still, a tired Karai is a dangerous Karai. April whips out her tessen and takes on a fighting stance, her expression hard. "What the hell do _you _want?"

"Put that thing away," Karai sighs. "I'm not here to fight."

"You think I'm actually going to fall for that?"

Karai seems too tired to properly glare at her, but she tries it anyway. "I'm not trying to trick you, O'Neil. I don't want to fight you-I want to _talk_."

It's unusually hot for this time of year, on the verge of fall yet still warm enough to go about in short sleeves and shorts. She can feel sweat on the palms of her hands and beading on the back of her neck, though she's not sure it's only because of the heat.

"You," April says, forming the words slowly, "want to talk."

"Yes."

"To me."

A brief look of annoyance passes over Karai's face. It fades quickly, but that doesn't change that it was there. "Yes, April. I just want to talk to you."

"Oh, sorry if I'm a little disbelieving," April snaps, "usually our 'talks' involve you trying to kill me."

"I'm sure that isn't true-"

"And I'm very, _very _sure it is."

Karai falls silent, tersely pressing her lips together. She looks like she's trying to sink within herself, perhaps suffering from belated guilt after realizing April's words ring true. "Well, not this time. I just want to talk."

Despite being very, very far from slipping into any state of easy trust, April relents. She folds up her tessen and gestures outward with her palms, giving Karai the floor. "So talk, then. I'm listening."

Something in Karai's eyes change. It's as if she was bracing for an attack, but now they soften, and her expression becomes more open than April's ever seen it. She can only bear to look at her for a moment before having to turn away, trying to will away a faint burn in her cheeks.

Like this, Karai doesn't look like the bad guy. She doesn't even look like the daughter whose family was ripped away from her. She looks like _Harmony- _the girl April met at Murakami's who flirted easily and made April feel a little _normal _for once.

"Thank you," Karai says, relaxing into a grateful smile. "I understand that you don't trust me, and I get it. I deserve it. But I want to _change _things now."

Her voice is so sincere, it takes April by surprise.

"I believe Leonardo," but there's something wrong, she sounds stiff, _forced_, "I believe that Yoshi is my real father, and I would do anything to have the chance to be his daughter again."

April's stomach sinks. She forces herself to make eye contact with Karai, trying to ignore how imploring and _deep _her golden eyes are, and reaches out with her mind.

It takes a moment to find Karai's thoughts. It's as if she's hiding herself, protected against any searching psychics, but April finds her anyway.

If Leo's mind is like the sea, Karai's is like the sky-endless, almost, and currently a storm of emotions so strong April almost can't stomach them. Distrust and betrayal loom over everything like dark clouds of thunder; the whole place rumbles and rolls with anger that runs _deep_. April digs a bit deeper and she sees memories- one of a picture with a jagged edge, seemingly ripped in half just short of Tang Shen's carefully photographed face- and the other of a dark room, the Shredder, Tiger Claw, and the words-

'_You need to find Hamato Yoshi's home,' the Shredder says. 'You need to find where he and his disciples are hiding.'_

_Yoshi-fire, burning- Tang Shen - she was __**taken **__from me; __**Yoshi **__took her from me-_

'_We will destroy Hamato and his clan,' says Tiger Claw. _

'_No! Bring them to me. I will finish them myself.'_

'_Yes, Father.'_

Of course, April thinks once she tears herself away. _Of course_ she's lying-that's all she's ever done. Anger rises up within her, clouding her vision and making her hands tremble. She can't fight Karai but _god _does she want to, Splinter's daughter or not, she wants to punch her clean in the mouth. The fact that she can sit there and lie to April's face so smoothly, while deep down she's thinking-

_There is no honor here - my father is Oruku Sa- Hamato Yosh- Miwa? I am not Miwa I am Karai but I __**am **__Miwa but -_

"April?" Karai says, frowning.

Suddenly, April can't look at her. She believes with all her heart that Karai has done horrible, inexcusable things...but she also understands how she can manage to act so broken while she lies.

It's not really that much of an act at all. Karai is completely torn apart on the inside.

"I believe you," April finds herself saying. "But I don't speak for the Hamatos. I'll talk to them and get back to you in twenty-four hours. Just know this: if you try to follow or track me, I will make sure you _never _come close to Splinter or the boys, and I will _rip you apart_ if you try."

Karai blinks and then laughs, outright, with her mouth open wide. It's not a patronizing laugh, it's actually kind of melodic, oddly enough, and April's intensity fades just enough to feel embarrassed about thinking of it as cute.

"I don't doubt that you will," she says once she's gathered herself. "And I can't thank you enough. You have no idea what this means to me."

_Believe me, I do_, April muses to herself, but says nothing.

* * *

April sends a text to Leo and Donnie: MEET ME BEHIND MURAKAMIS NOW! and they show up not two minutes later, looking a little worse for wear.

"Guys I-wait, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Donnie says, though it's not very convincing. "I mean, not really, no. We tried to call you like, thirty times! Why didn't you pick up?"

"It was on silent," April says quickly, "from the movie, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but you're going to want to hear this."

She tells them everything that had happened since she left the theater, not sparing any details. Leo's eyes practically glow with hope, and she feels kind of heartless as she pauses, wincing regretfully. "...Karai was lying."

The turtles stare at her. Leo looks absolutely crushed; Donnie only bows his head, accepting his suspicions.

"April, you can't know for sure. You don't know-"

"I read her mind," April explains carefully. "She can't lie in her own _head_, Leo. And it's all a trap to get us to show her the lair. She and Tiger Claw are planning an ambush."

He's quiet, after that, staring at the ground. Every so often his fingers twitch as if he's just seconds away from forming fists and swinging at anything that moved.

She steps forward and rests a hand on his shoulder. It doesn't take a psychic to read his mind; Leo has a habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeve, easy for anyone to read. But as her skin touches his, she's given the bearest snippet of his mind as it slips into hers.

Leo's mind is, usually, calm. It reminds her of water-the rhythmic nature of his thoughts like waves. But now, she's privy to a scene like a storm at sea. He's fighting himself within his mind: one side firmly set in trusting April and the other daring to believe in Karai, _still_. After everything she'd ever done to him, he's still so reluctant to distrust her.

Amidst it all, only clear thought April can catch is:

_But she's family._

Exhaling as her resolution forms, April squeezes. Leo looks up, the raging storm within his mind prominent in his eyes.

"You want to know the funny things about minds?" she says. "They can be changed."

She offers a smile at Leo, and after a moment's thought, he returns it.

"No, no, _no_," Donnie shakes his head firmly. "Guys, listen to yourselves. You want to change the mind a girl who's been brainwashed to hate us for her _entire life?_"

"Anything is possible," says Leo.

"Hypothetically, sure, but in real life that's the kind of thing that gets us _killed_."

"When I read her mind, I could tell she was lying to me, but I also saw that she doesn't really believe anything right now, including Shredder," April says. "She's already doubting him. All we have to do is give her a reason to cut ties with him completely."

Thoughtful silence, then-

"_Fine_," Donnie sighs. He tosses up his hands, a tell-tale sign of honest frustration with everyone around him. "Since we can't bring her to the lair, let's bring the lair to _her_. Something to convince her that she's really Splinter's daughter. And maybe something sharp to fight her with after she doesn't believe us because _why would she_."

Leo's eyes sparkle. "Don, that's not a bad idea."

"I-_what_?" Donnie splutters. "Yes it is! I was _kidding_. You can't seriously think that-"

Leo shushes him with a raised hand. Even though Donnie falls silent, his dubious expression doesn't waver. "What if we brought something of Tang Shen's? I know Splinter has a lot of...mementos."

A memory flashes behind April's eyes. "The picture!" she bursts out, jumping forward and startling both brothers. "Splinter's picture of him and Tang Shen! Karai has the same one-he's cut out of it, but if we show her the original it could be all she needs to make up her mind."

The smile Leo sends her way is brilliant. Happiness rolls off him in waves, and April brushes against the outer walls of his mind, pleased to see the storm within has calmed.

Slowly, eyes narrowed, Donnie looks between both of them, fixating first on him, then on her. He drags his hands over his face. "For the love of - sure, _why not_. Let's go fulfill your death wishes; but the record, _I_ said it was a bad idea."

* * *

It's chillier tonight, but the picture in April's pocket feels hot enough to burn a hole right through the fabric. She does her best to hide how antsy she is by rubbing the goosebumps at her arms, pretending to shiver in the chilly breeze.

"You look jumpy."

Despite living with a family of ninjas for nearly a month, April doesn't think she'll ever get used to them appearing out of the shadows at will. She jumps a foot in the air before turning to see Karai leaning on the theater's brick wall, a soft smirk on her face.

Somehow, she looks even more disheveled than she did the night before. Dark circles are starting to form under her eyes; April can't help but wonder when the last time she slept was.

"It's-cold," she replies after a moment's delay. She doesn't pity Karai, not necessarily, but she suddenly wants to take her somewhere safe. Take her to the lair, to Splinter, where she can get a good night's rest and away from the diabolical clutches of the Shredder. "I, uh, I talked to the turtles."

Karai steps forward involuntarily, too eager to completely stifle her emotions. "And?"

"They're doubtful," she says, just like she rehearsed with Donnie, "they don't think you're trustworthy."

(That's more than an understatement. Raph had had a full blown fit at the very idea of trusting her again. "Are you _crazy_? You think a picture is all it'll take to change her? You're dumber than Leo if you think that'll work!"

But all she needs to keep going is how Splinter had reacted. "You think you can...bring Miwa back to me?" and when she nodded her head, he looked like she had given him the world.)

Karai pulls a face, exhaling deeply as she slides down the side of the building. "They don't have any reason to trust me. I can't say I blame them." It's very hard to tell if she's acting or not. April decides to give her the benefit of the doubt by not peering into her mind to find out.

"But," she says.

Karai lifts her head up. "But?"

"But even though they don't trust you, they want you to have this." April pulls out the picture out and presents to the other girl without ceremony.

Karai takes the picture, and after realizing what it is, holds it like a delicate treasure. Her eyes blow wide open, emotions all over her face. "I _have _this picture," she says stiffly. "Or have half of it, at least. Shredder told me the other half burned in the fire."

"Did he?" April says, staring intently at her. It's only a matter of time until she gets it.

"I always believed...but this doesn't look like Saki _at all_. This looks like…"

She trails off as realization hits.

"This is Yoshi, isn't it? This is Hamato Yoshi with _my mother_-this is my, my-"

"Your family," April says gently, dropping to one knee so they can be face-to-face. "Your _real _parents."

Karai continues to stare at the picture, so still she's almost lifeless. When April reaches out touch her mind, she's met with a wave of relief that's so strong it's almost tangible. Karai's open-sky mind isn't the turbulent mess she'd seen yesterday; it's a little clearer, despite being heavy with regret.

"Oh, _fuck_," she says suddenly, and it sounds close to sob. "_Leonardo_ was _right_."

She seems to regret the slip up as soon as it's out of her mouth, but April waves it aside.

"I knew you were lying," she explains. "And, listen, I know we have...a history, but you seem to have a lot on your plate right now, so I'm willing to move on if you are." She holds out her hand.

Karai looks like she's seen a ghost. "Are you serious? Just like that, you want to be friends? You just said you knew I was lying to you-why would you want to..."

"The Hamatos _love _you," April says, emphasizing the word with a gesture of her hands. "And if they can love you after everything you've done, the least I can do is forgive you. It's not like I'm just going to _forget _everything you've done, or stop being angry about it. I just don't want that to be what defines us."

Clutching the picture like a lifeline, Karai eyes her warily. After spending so long not knowing who to trust… April can't blame her for not buying into the idea.

"Besides, the girl I had dinner with at Murakami's didn't seem so bad," she adds. "I'd like to get to know her."

It's an open invitation. April raises her eyebrows, waiting.

Karai snorts bitterly. "I don't know if I can be that girl."

"You can try."

"You're fucking crazy, O'Neil," Karai says flatly. "But I ran around the city with a seven foot tailless tiger yesterday. I can handle a little crazy." She offers a small smile, looking surprised at how emotional her voice is. It makes April's hard stutter-stop-start again; and, come to think of it, her face does look little softer when she smiles like that. Maybe Leo is on to something after all.

When she accepts April's handshake the contact between them seems _right_, in a way. Like they were meant to be on the same side all along. The kind of feeling April wants to experience more than once.

_Thank you, April_, Karai sighs within her head, the thought so clarion it's as if she said it out loud.

April smiles at her. _You're welcome._

And she knows it's crazy-she didn't say anything out loud, after all-but Karai nods like she heard every word.

Getting to her feet, April nudges the other girl with her shoulder. "Let's go home."

Happiness blooms in Karai's face, throughout her mind, so radiant it makes a similar feeling form within April. She smiles wide, tired but strong and brilliant as the sun itself. "I'd-I'd _really _like that."

It's a start, a small one; nonetheless, April feels light as air (and the happy thoughts that parade through Karai's brain reveal she feels the same) and with a satisfied sigh between her ears, she leads the way home.


End file.
